Report: A&M assistant one of five to interview for Nevada vacancy

As Texas A&M gets set to take on Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl tonight, one of Kevin Sumlin‘s assistants could be setting himself for a new gig in the coming week.

Chris Murray of the Reno Gazette-Journal is reporting that Nevada interviewed five candidates for its vacancy at head coach in Dallas Thursday. The Wolf Pack have been searching for a new coach since Dec. 28, when longtime head coach Chris Aultsurprisingly stepped down after nearly three decades on the job.

Sources confirmed to Murray the names of three of those candidates, with one of those being A&M assistant Brian Polian. Polian, son of former NFL executive Bill Polian, is in his first season with the Aggies, serving as both special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.

While the 38-year-old Polian has never been a head coach at the collegiate level, he does have over a decade of experience that includes Stanford, Notre Dame, UCF and Buffalo.

The other two known candidates that were interviewed — Chris Klenakis and Tom Mason — have extensive ties to Nevada and have previously been reported as possibilities for the opening. Mason is currently SMU’s defensive coordinator while Klenakis spent last season on the Arkansas coaching staff and was not retained by new head coach Bret Bielema.

In a press release sent out shortly before Murray’s report hit the web, Nevada announced that they would like to identify a finalist for the job and present him to the Board of Regents for approval at a Jan. 11 meeting.